


the heart of the cards

by glownary



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hope's Peak Academy (Dangan Ronpa), Card Games, Friendship, Games, Gen, Kokichi Ouma Month, POV Akamatsu Kaede, Piano, Yu-Gi-Oh! - Freeform, this was supposed to be short, wtf happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24581563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glownary/pseuds/glownary
Summary: Kaede decides to spend some time with her classmate and friend.(Ouma Month day 2 prompt: games.)
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Oma Kokichi, Akamatsu Kaede & Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53
Collections: Kokichi Ouma Month 2020





	the heart of the cards

Sharp, flat, staccato, legato—Kaede tapped her pencil rhythmically against her desk, trying to figure out how to continue the beat. Composing was never her area of expertise, but ever since she started attending Hope's Peak, the school had been encouraging her to push the limits of her talent. She appreciated it—she really did!—but filling out the lines with musical notes of her own was starting to get on her nerves. Just by looking over her sheet music in progress, she could hear how it was supposed to sound in her head. It wasn't… terrible, but she didn't feel it was ultimate-worthy, either. Something was missing.

After rereading the same line over again, she ran her fingers through her hair and groaned. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out what was wrong, but giving up just wasn't her style! She'd sit there all day if she had to—

"Everyone knows that 'study hall' in Hope's Peak is prime time for dicking around, not working. You… do know that, right?"

Jolting up with a yelp, Kaede swiveled her body to face her classmate. "Ouma-kun! When did you get here?"

Kokichi raised an eyebrow, seemingly unimpressed. "When did I get to the school we both attend?"

"Ah, no, I meant—" Embarrassed, Kaede scrambled to correct herself. "I didn't notice you come over, that's all."

Kokichi just shrugged at her. "Probably 'cause you were distracted by work, like some kinda loser. Is hanging out with Saihara-chan rubbing off on you?"

Puffing her cheeks out slightly in annoyance, Kaede pointed a finger up in front of Kokichi's face. "You've gotta stop being so mean to Shuuichi! What's your problem with him, anyways?"

For just a split second, something unreadable flashed in Kokichi's eyes. Then the moment was gone and he clutched at his chest dramatically. "Problem? What problem? Saihara-chan and I are the best of friends!"

Before she could argue, Kokichi leaned closer and added, "Nevermind that, though; I'm here to talk to you, not him." As he leaned in, he rested an arm on her desk. Kaede stared in confusion at the large, unusually-shaped object attached to his wrist. It looked like a really strange, oversized wristwatch. Kokichi followed her gaze and lifted his arm up to display the object clearly. "I see you've noticed my duel disk," he announced, his tone theatrical. It almost sounded like he was the narrator of a commercial.

"Uh, yeah… I'm kind of wondering how I missed it until now." Truly, the thing was obnoxiously large. 

Kokichi simply laughed. "Now for why I came over in the first place! Akamatsu-chan, are you familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh!?"

She thought about that for just a moment before her eyes lit up in faint recognition. "Oh! The card game?"

"That's right." Raising the bulky plastic contraption strapped to his arm out in front of him, Kokichi grinned. "Duel me!"

"Ah, I don't know that I'm the best person to ask. I've never played before," Kaede informed him.

He lowered his arm back to his side, but seemed otherwise unperturbed. "That's alright, I can teach you!"

Hesitating, Kaede considered that for a moment. "Well…"

Kokichi gave her the biggest puppy-dog eyes he could manage. "Please, Akamatsu-chan? Saihara-chan refused to play with me, Gonta didn't get the rules, and Momota-chan's out sick! I would ask Kiibo, but playing against a robot would be no fun."

Kaede sighed. "Jeez, good to know that I'm your last choice…"

He giggled at that. "Don't be silly, Harukawa-chan's my last choice!"

Glancing down at her work, Kaede debated her options in her head. Kokichi just wanted someone to play with, and really, he wasn't so bad. Besides, maybe taking some time away from composing would help her get past the part she was stuck on.

Mind made up, she looked at him and nodded. "Alright, what the heck! I'll play with you."

Unexpectedly, Kokichi's expression dropped into one that was dead serious. "Play with me? Do you think Yu-Gi-Oh! is just a game to me, Akamatsu-chan?"

"H—huh? Sorry, I thought—"

"Apology accepted!" Kokichi interrupted with a smile. "Anyways, let the game begin!"

Kokichi never made anything easy, did he?  


###### 

"What color are field cards again?"

"Field _spell_ cards. They're green, just like every other spell card."

Kaede lifted her fists up in front of herself, like she often did when offering encouragement to others. "Alright, I got it! That's all the basics, right?"

"Yup!" Kokichi tapped a finger to his lip. "Well, minus the summoning stuff from Zexal onwards. Feel free to look at them if you want, but we don't have to play with that."

Not bothering to pretend she understood what that meant, Kaede nodded. "Are we ready to start the game, then?"

Rooting around in his bag, Kokichi pulled out multiple small, rectangular boxes. They were all the same size, but each was a different color. "I'm gonna lend you my Performapals deck," he said, handing the yellow box to her. "Normally if I'm serious about winning, I'll play Archfiends, but—" he threw her a sideways glance—"It's your first time playing, so I'll pick something else." He returned his attention to the boxes, eyeing the green one. "Hmm… Clown Control is normally a pretty tough deck to fight as a beginner, but if I modify it by swapping a few cards out, it should be fine."

Performapals, Archfiends, Clown Control… it really just sounded like he was throwing out random words, now, but Kaede didn't know enough about Yu-Gi-Oh! to determine whether he was pulling her leg or not. Curious, she opened up the box he had handed her and pulled a few cards out. They were… circus animals?

Attention returning to Kokichi, she found that he was shuffling the cards he added into his deck. She quickly fumbled to shuffle her own deck as well. 

Kokichi gave her a crooked smile. "Ready?"

Kaede nodded, eyes determined. "Ready!"

Dramatically lifting a card high up into the air, Kokichi cried out, "Let's duel!"  


###### 

"—And with that attack, your Life Points hit zero! You totally suck at this!" Kokichi giggled. "Just kidding, that was pretty good for your first game." 

But Kaede barely seemed to hear him, holding a knuckle up to her chin as though lost in thought. She grabbed her graveyard pile, fanning it out and scanning through the cards.

"...Hello? Akamatsu-chan? You're toootally spacing out right now. And I thought Momota-chan was the ultimate astronaut!"

"Hm?" Peeking over the cards she was holding and the rulebook Kokichi had lended her, Kaede finally recognized that Kokichi was trying to catch her attention. "Sorry, Ouma-kun, I just wanted to check something…" She continued to look through the cards, lighting up when she found what she was looking for. "I knew it! I completely missed that I could have used this differently." Kokichi watched with interest as she shuffled her graveyard back into her deck. "I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice!"

Kokichi hadn't said anything about playing a second time—he beamed at her enthusiasm. "Looking to get your ass handed to you again?"

"You wish!" she responded confidently. This time, she was the one who called out, "Let's duel!"  


###### 

Fists in the air, Kaede cheered out "Yes!!"

Momentarily distracted by her win, she missed the impressed expression on Kokichi's face before he covered it up with false tears. "Akamatsu-chan's so mean, beating me after I was nice enough to go easy on her…"

Kaede laughed warmly. "Ouma-kun, that doesn't make any sense."

"You caught me," he responded, dropping the upset act. The bell rang and he gave her a fake pout. "Aw, and I was just about to ask for a rematch." He returned his deck to its container, then held a hand out expectantly as he waited for her to do the same. "Next time I'm not holding back."

She neatly stacked her borrowed cards into their respective box, placing it into the palm of his hand. "Sounds good to me!"

Kokichi shoved the decks into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. Sparing her one last glance with calculating eyes, he said "You're a pretty good strategist, you know."

He stood up without waiting for a response, waving goodbye as he walked away. "See ya later!" he called out as he left the room.

That was… unusually high praise, coming from Kokichi. She hummed to herself as she got her things together, pausing when she grabbed her sheet music. She had totally forgotten about it while playing. Sighing, she put it into her bag and got up to leave. No time to stress over it, she had somewhere to be!  


###### 

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" she called out, rushing into her ultimate lab.

"Ah, don't worry, I wasn't waiting long," Shuuichi told her. She gave him a small smile and set her things down by the record shelves.

The two of them hung out in her lab after class most days. Sometimes they would walk there together, but never if the day had ended with study hall. Shuuichi—like most of their classmates—chose to spend study hall outside of their usual classroom.

"What are you going to play today?" Shuuichi asked with a shy smile, before growing slightly nervous. "A—ah, but it's okay if you're not sure yet!"

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Shuuichi," she warned firmly—they had discussed his tendency to second-guess himself even when he hadn't done anything wrong. 

He relaxed. "Right, sorry."

Her hand fell back to her side. "Shuuichi," she repeated, more exasperated this time. They'd discussed his tendency to apologize too much, too.

His eyes widened. "Oh! S—uh, I mean—"

Kaede just laughed and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?" she asked, tone light. He flushed bright red, embarrassed. 

She turned her attention to the piano and lifted the cover. "And… is it alright if I practice the piece I'm working on? It's not finished, but I think playing what I already have might help."

Shuuichi perked right up at that. "Of course! I'd love to hear it," he answered.

Kaede plopped down in front of the piano and took a deep breath. Playing an unfinished piece she wrote herself was much more nerve-wracking than her usual performances, but she felt comfortable playing for Shuuichi. Positioning her fingers over the keys, she began to play.

...It sounded like she expected. Not bad, but not good enough. Missing something. Her fingers stilled and Shuuichi was quick to compliment her—"It sounds really good so far!" he insisted, but she just shook her head. 

"I can do better, I know it, I just…" Kaede dragged her fingertips lightly across the keys, trying to find inspiration for a change. Her mind immediately latched onto the memory of winning against Kokichi earlier. At the time, she had been ecstatic, forgetting all about her frustration with composing.

Suddenly, it hit her—she started over again, playing it faster, more lively, and in a major key. She beamed as she played; there was nothing wrong with the melody she had written—she had been imagining it wrong! It worked so much better as a song played during a moment of triumph; an energetic, upbeat tune!

When she finished playing all she had written, Shuuichi quietly clapped for her. "That was beautiful," he told her, and it felt more truthful than before.

"I think I can write the rest of it now," she said happily. "I'll have to thank Ouma-kun later."

Shuuichi was taken aback by that. "Ouma-kun?! Why would you…?"

"I played his game with him earlier and it helped me figure out what I needed to change." She smiled apologetically at him. "I know he asked you first and you said no, but it was actually pretty fun."

Eyebrows drawing together, Shuuichi looked lost. "Asked me first? I haven't spoken to Ouma-kun at all today."

Kaede whipped around to face Shuuichi directly. "But he said—"

She stopped herself mid-sentence and remembered how the interaction had gone. Kokichi claimed he had already tried to play with Shuuichi and Gonta, and that he would've played with Kaito if he were present today. He lied all the time, but why would he lie about that? And—

… And he had only approached her to play in the first place after she had expressed frustration with composing. He told her she was working too hard.

"Aka—" Shuuichi quickly corrected himself, remembering that Kaede had asked him to use her given name—"Kaede?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Kaede looked at Shuuichi. "Sorry, I was just thinking about how much I enjoy Yu-Gi-Oh!," she reassured him. He seemed puzzled by that.

Kokichi is a pretty good guy after all, she decided. She made a mental note to buy her own deck later.


End file.
